July 8, 2008
In these turbulent financial times, the specter of millions of unsettled trades executed by Wall Street profiteers hangs over our markets and the financial health of small, innovative enterprises. In the three years since Regulation SHO has been in place, nearly 6,600 unique securities have appeared on the Regulation SHO threshold list, many for hundreds of trading days. We do not know how many of these companies are the victim of illegal manipulative naked short-selling but it should be obvious to those within the SEC that perhaps all, or the majority of those companies are NSS victims.
It is a shame the Commission has continued to fail to simply enforce the existing regulations against NAKED SHORT SELLING, a practice harmful not only to individual investors, but to our economy as well.
I support elimination of the Market Makers exemption.
I support amendment to rule 203(b)(3)(iii) of Regulation SHO - completely eliminating the close out exemption for option market makers as proposed (not alternative 1 or 2) .
I support amendment to rule 200(g)(1)which will require a "locate" on short sales securities and proper marking of sales as "long" or "short".
I also support amendment to rule 200(g)(1) proposed in the second round in release 34-56213 File No. S7-19-07 because equity investors are being harmed from mismarked sales as "long" when they are NAKED short which counterfeits shares--an illegal activity
In the event of failure to amend rule 200 (g) (1), please make and release a cost anaylsis incurred by equity investors.
The SEC must do a cost analysis incurred by equity securities investors if you do not eliminate the market maker exemption as your new data clearly shows the fails are being produced by invoking that exemption which, in turns, harms equity investors.
I continue to fail to see "why" the SEC--which proclaims on its website how it's dedicated to protecting investors--continues to fail to enforce just the rules, regulations and laws CURRENTLY on the books.
You folks are killing both small, private investors and our economy. It's time to ignore the blandishments of hedge funds and investment banks and uphold the credo of the SEC - protect the small investor, from fraud and corruption.